One of Blackburn’s most important bridges must be the one which carries the railway line over Darwen Street and into Blackburn Railway Station.
Yet when you arrive in Blackburn Railway Station from the south or west, most train passengers, unfamiliar with our town, don’t even realise they are going over a bridge. This is down to the sheer size of this structure.
Built in 1846, the structure was originally known as the L&Y Bridge. It was named after the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who built it. At the time the railway would have been a new form of transport. Quite ironic how this bridge traverses one of Blackburn’s oldest routes of transport – the Roman road from Manchester to Ribchester – passes underneath Darwen Steet Bridge.
Another irony is Darwen Street railway bridge is not the only bridge which traverses this road. A few yards down Darwen Street is the original bridge with this name. This is where Blackburn’s River Blakewater is crossed by the road. So really there are two Darwen Street bridges. But many Blackburners will think there is only one.
Located at this river crossing, there used to be a lock up many years ago. It was used to incarcerate miscreants on a short term basis, mainly drunkards – some things never change! But also next to this river crossing point was a gunpowder storage. No doubt most of the lock up’s inmates would not be too bothered about having a smoke when they were banged up. Having a smoke could have led to another kind of being banged up.
How big this railway bridge and its area is quite a surprise when seeing it from above for the first time. After working on the railway for a few years, my depot was near where Darwen Street Bridge starts. Being a railway, there were a lot of sounds throughout most days, such as trains coming and going from Blackburn Railway Station. But there was one sound which always took everybody by surprise. This was a long drawn out boom, which happened on rare occasions.
It was the sound of heavy goods vehicles, or double decker buses, hitting the bridge. Despite road markings and warning signs on approaches to the bridge, of low headroom in certain parts, there would still be an occasional driver who wasn’t concentrating, or pushing his luck. This was when we knew a vehicle had hit the bridge, its sound was so unique. Fortunately crashes and lorries being overturned onto their sides were few and far between.
This railway bridge has served our town for 180 years. It’s little neighbour, crossing the Blakewater, may date back to Roman times, maybe even further. What a sight to behold, Caesar’s legions marching down Darwen Street.
